Saturday, April 30, 2005
Man arrested for spending old currency
Link.
I think the fast food restaurant and the Sherriff's department both have some culpability here. Someone employed as a cashier should have reasonable currency recognition training. If not, then the store manager should be expected to be able to recognize legal tender in the U.S., or at least have the general fund of information to know that the appearance of currencies change over time.
And the Sherriff's department should NOT have detained the man to verify that the currency was real. If they do not have probable cause or a reasonable basis to believe that the currency was counterfeit, then they had no reason to hold the guy. The burden of proof ought to be on the Sherriff's department, not on the citizen.
And "I'm just an ignorant moron who didn't know that Franklin wasn't always that big" does not seem to amount to probable cause.
Splash, out
Jason
I think the fast food restaurant and the Sherriff's department both have some culpability here. Someone employed as a cashier should have reasonable currency recognition training. If not, then the store manager should be expected to be able to recognize legal tender in the U.S., or at least have the general fund of information to know that the appearance of currencies change over time.
And the Sherriff's department should NOT have detained the man to verify that the currency was real. If they do not have probable cause or a reasonable basis to believe that the currency was counterfeit, then they had no reason to hold the guy. The burden of proof ought to be on the Sherriff's department, not on the citizen.
And "I'm just an ignorant moron who didn't know that Franklin wasn't always that big" does not seem to amount to probable cause.
Splash, out
Jason
Comments:
As long as the police had reasonable cause to believe a crime had been committed then a detention is warranted and legal, for a reasonable amount of time. 30-45 mins is not unreasonable.
His suit against the fast food joint might win because there should have been those markers there. If he has a suit against the police he will lose that one quite quickly.
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His suit against the fast food joint might win because there should have been those markers there. If he has a suit against the police he will lose that one quite quickly.
